The Zephyr mirror script (not recommended)

Webathena is the easiest way to use Zulip. With Webathena, you don't need to run any software in a screen session. Your Athena password never leaves your computer and the only access that any Zulip computer ever receives is the ability to send/receive zephyrs as you.

We recommend that you use Webathena instead of following these instructions. Please only follow these instructions if you know that you want to run the zephyr mirror script instead of using Webathena.

Running the Zephyr mirror script

On an Athena dialup (linerva.mit.edu, athena.dialup.mit.edu, etc.), run the Zephyr mirroring script inside a screen session.

IMPORTANT: You must keep the Zephyr mirroring script always running in a session with unexpired Kerberos tickets. The script forwards personals you receive on Zephyr to Zulip, and forwards messages you send in Zulip to Zephyr. If it is not running, only other Zulip users will receive messages you send from Zulip! The Zulip web application will warn you if the Zephyr mirroring script is not running.

If you already have BarnOwl running in screen/tmux somewhere, you can just run:

/mit/tabbott/zulip/zephyr_mirror.py

inside that screen session.

Mirroring without a BarnOwl session

If you are not already running a screen/tmux for BarnOwl, you can set up a screen session to run the Zephyr mirroring script by running the following on a dialup such as linerva.mit.edu:

  1. kinit -l7d && aklog
  2. (Type your password to create 7-day renewable Kerberos tickets)
  3. env ZEPHYR_SCREEN_CLIENT=/mit/tabbott/zulip/zephyr_mirror.py SCREEN_SESSION_NAME=zulip athrun kchen owl-screen

This will run the Zephyr mirroring script inside a screen session, and use `/mit/kchen/bin/cont-renew-notify` to continually renew your Kerberos tickets for up to a week; each week, it will send you a Zephyr/Zulip letting you know that you need to renew your tickets. To do so, log in to the server that you set up the screen session on and use the following procedure:

  1. Run screen -x zulip to connect to the mirroring screen session created above.
  2. The first time, you'll need to type Ctrl-A c to switch to a new terminal in your screen session.
  3. kinit -l7d && aklog
  4. (Type your password to renew your Kerberos tickets).

Don't run multiple copies of the Zephyr mirroring script; doing so will result in messages you sent being forwarded to Zephyr twice.